The Green at Grant Park (Chicago, IL)

July 18, 2006, early evening

There's nothing I can really say to recommend this particular course, so don't expect to see any more scores turn up after this one.  I knew we were in trouble right from the start when I noticed it was a course without walls.  That might not have been so bad in itself except for the radical contouring of the greens and the speed of the turf.  The designers must have had some idea what was up since they set the maximum of strokes at five per hole.  All things considered, I guess I played okay.  I out-thought myself on too many of the greens, aiming short putts at the edge of the hole to compensate for a perceived slope that never acted on the putt; I probably lost at least three strokes that way.  It was also frequently a challenge to read the greens, and even when they could be read correctly it was hard to do much but watch as your ball trickled down an unforgiving slope.  A particularly egregious hole was #7, which featured an uphill shot, no plateau to speak of except for well behind the hole, and a sharp slope on the right side into a sand trap.  My drive actually hit the hole... but of course instead of dropping in for a hole in one, it popped up and proceeded to roll all the way into the sand trap.  More than a bit ridiculous.  I did only take three fives, and only one was a gentleman's five, so I didn't feel too bad considering the course difficulty.  Par wasn't even marked on the score sheet so what's below is a guess based on the stated overall par and a vague recollection of which holes were the longest.  Karen carded the threesome's only ace at the 8th when her ball hit my foot as I was trying to move it out of the way and bounced directly into the hole; we decided to give it to her, since no one else was going to get one.  Drew groused about the course design for most of the way and eventually stopped seriously trying for much of the back nine.  All in all, not the world's most enjoyable course.